Premonition
by Takhrenixe
Summary: There are dreams, and then there are nightmares. There are nightmares...and then there are warnings.  Horrible summary, horrible title, yes, I know. It's better than it sounds.


**Chao, fellow FanFictioners.**

**This is based on a dream I had; it was supposed to be up on All Hallow's Eve but I...got preoccupied.**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Never have, never will, never was meant to. Get the picture?**

**...Review or don't. I really don't care. Obviously it would make my day, but if you can't be bothered...so be it.**

* * *

_Blackness._

What am I doing here?

_Brilliant white light, strong as a lighthouse beacon._

What's happening?

_Eyes gradually adjust. A figure approaches._

_"Why, hello!"_

...What? Why is SHE here?

_The figure walks closer, the strangest object clutched in one hand: a hose._

_"I'm surprised at you. Didn't think you'd be this easy to catch."_

What in gods' name is she talking about?

_The hose is hoisted ominously. Confused and wary eyes stare upward, taking acute notice of the maze of cracks in the stone ceiling above._

_Wait...why am I on my back? Why can't I move? What the hell is going on here? An effort to speak proves to be in vain._

_"Do you love me?"_

_Caught off guard, he almost doesn't answer...is in truth afraid to...but he knows the owner of the voice, and so he must. It's only right, after all._

_"Yes." The one word is allowed purchase in stale, heavy air before the throat it travels through is constricted again._

Of course I do, I've known you forever. And I'd love you even more if you'd tell me what the hell this about...!

_Whoever has entered, shakes their unrecognizable head, tongue clicking in mock-pity._

_"I don't believe you."_

_A nozzle is twisted; clear liquid fills the room...or is that just perception of the one underneath it?_

Oh gods. Oh gods, I'm gonna drown. She's trying to kill me! Help!

_Restrained limbs struggle frantically to escape the cascade of suffocating water, gradually growing limp as oxygen is withheld. A deathly stillness engulfs the room._

_"Oops. Looks like I broke my toy," a feminine voice declares, unaffected by the murder she'd just committed. The owner of the voice leans down, slams her palms against a waterlogged torso; the H2O and a fair amount of blood seep from the corners of her victim's taut muzzle, and she bears down on it again._

_Lungs emptied, her mouth against his brings the unlucky soul back from death, coughing violently and trembling in shock._

Wha...what...what just happened?

_"Welcome back," the torturer exclaims, a coy smile upon her face. "Do you still love me?"_

_Despite what has just occurred, his answer does not change. _

_"Yes."_

_And the world floods again._

* * *

...To say Sonic was relieved when he woke up was to make the understatement of the century.

_What...the hell...was that...?_ he whispered to nobody in particular, immensely glad to be alone in his cheerily-decorated, _not_ made of stone bedroom, and even moreso to be able to move from his position on the bed (the last place he wanted to be at the moment, understandably, was on his back). In mere seconds he was dressed -read: put on his shoes and gloves- and downstairs, where Tails waited for him in the kitchen with what had to be a record-breaking stack of pancakes and a veritable sea of syrup besides.

"Mornin' kiddo," he mumbled, trying and failing to sound happy and well-rested.

"Morning, Sonic. Geez, you look awful!" The Kitsune regarded his brother with mild concern. "What happened to you?"

The older of the two brushed it off like nothing was wrong, waving hand in a dismissive gesture and diving into the mile-high flapjacks. Tails pressed on, unfazed.

"C'mon bro, don't lie to me. It just makes you look bad," he added with a laughing smirk.

Sonic sighed, defeated, eyes rolling in an immature display of annoyance that sent Tails into a minor gigglefit.

"Awright, awright! Sheesh. Y'know, sometimes you get me wonderin' which of us is the older bro, bro."

Tails snickered at this. "Older? Well, me, obviously. I cook, you burn things. I clean, you've never touched a broom in your life. I work (referring to his government funding in exchange for advancing their military's technology), you run around in circles all day..."

Sonic looked absolutely mortified by Tails' entirely true statement; he let out a sheepish half-chuckle, mind reeling for a way to change the subject...

The Fox-kit's smirk turned into a slightly reprimanding, more serious expression. "Now stop trying to throw me off my question, Sonic. Tell me what's up."

Flinching at the boy's straightforwardness, Sonic assumed the (well-known to him, for it wasn't _nearly_ the first time he'd been in this sort of situation) position of 'child-who-has-been-caught-with-his-hand-the-figurative-cookie-jar.'

"No worries, Tails, it's really nothin'! Just had a nightmare, is all. Quit bein' all serious; you're way too young for that."

Tails shook his head, sighing. "Sonic, how many times must I tell you it's just plain idiotic to eat chilidogs before bed?"

Sonic leaned back in his chair, having finished off the plate -read: diner-sized tray- of pancakes. "Looks like you'll have to tell me again, eh?"

"Alright, fine. You're a complete idiot for eating chilidogs before bed."

"...There's a little thing called a 'rhetorical statement', buddy. Ever heard of 'em?"

Tails smiled smugly. "Nope."

A loud, high-pitched ring cut through the laughter from both sides that followed his answer; Sonic raced to the phone, flinging it from the receiver and using the cord to twirl it around for a second before speaking.

"You've reached the home of Sonic and Tails," he quipped in a very previously-recorded, singsong sort of voice, "How may I help you?"

"Sonic?"

He very nearly -_very _nearly- hung up right then and there. But, him being a role model for others after all (though this was the farthest thing from his mind)... it was only right to answer.

"What's up, Ames?" Sonic asked, having quite the hard time keeping a tremor from seeping into his voice.

"Oh, nothing, really...I just wanted to ask you..."

"Yes?" _I know exactly what you're going to ask. PLEASE don't ask it._

_"_I know you've told me a thousand times, but..."

She kept talking, but Sonic stopped listening. The phone fell from his hand, swinging slowly by the wires connecting to the kitchen wall, but that didn't stop him from hearing her.

"...Do you love me?"


End file.
